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Rock Steady beats D9ers with 5-run 6th
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Posted on Jul 29 2008
Undefeated Rock Steady leaned on a five-run explosion in the sixth to deep-six the San Roque D9ers, 11-4, Monday night in the continuation of Game 1 of their best-of-three semifinals in the 2008 Budweiser Saipan Major League at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.
After their Final Four matchup was postponed twice last week due to power outages at the Oleai Sports Center, the pennant champions transformed a nip-and-tuck 4-3 game after the first five innings by torturing D9ers pitcher Jonathan Tenorio with three hits that led to five home-plate crossings in the bottom of the sixth.
The game-turning sequence started when Manny Sablan, Timo Mafnas, and Oliver Secharmidal singled and Eric Lizama was inadvertently hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Speedster Tyrone Omar then brought home Sablan and Secharmidal on a single to make it 6-3.
While Mafnas was out at second, Dane Lizama duplicated Omar’s two RBI single by driving in Eric Lizama and Omar to pad the pennant champion’s lead to 8-3. Dane Lizama then made it 9-3 moments later when he scored on a D9er error.
Rock Steady ace John Mafnas gave D9ers’ hitters some fits in the top of the seventh as the team maintained its six-run advantage against the squad from San Roque.
Dane Lizama, meanwhile, continued his hot streak in the bottom of the seventh as he recorded two more RBIs when his single scored Timo Mafnas and Eric Lizama to hike Rock Steady’s advantage to 11-3.
D9ers answered meekly in the eighth when Greg Camacho tripled off John Mafnas and Leroy Dela Cruz brought him home to peg the score at 11-4.
That was all she wrote for D9ers though as John Mafnas and his reliever Jonathan Camacho shut them down the rest of the way. John Mafnas took the win after pitching seven innings.
Dane Lizama led Rock Steady from the batter’s box, going 3-for-5 along with four RBIs and two runs.
Camacho was the lone bright spot for the D9ers, as the big slugger was a homerun short of hitting for the cycle. He went 3-for-4 with a single, a double, and a triple.
Starting pitcher Jonathan Tenorio took the loss for D9ers, which look to rebound from their loss on Game 2 set for today.
